ello, all, Fascinating discussion. Heloisa, thank you for reminding me of Simmel: At 3:23 PM -0500 2/2/09, Heloisa Pait wrote: "Sociology for Simmel, is the study of social forms (<http://www.jstor.org/stable/2762513)>http://www.jstor.org/stable/2762513). he says we can empty our interactions of the actual content (economy, desires, politics) and study the ways through which people form groups, create connections, introduce conflicts, etc... So I would define sociology of technology as the study of those social interactions which are shaped by technology. Pretty much like urban sociology is the study of interactions which are shaped by the urban landscape, that are made possible (or prevented) by our urban environment." Simple and elegant, huh? And Gustavo, I like your summary, if it applies to micro-level as well as macro analyses: At 10:01 PM +0200 2/2/09, gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il wrote: "1. Sociology study the impact of technology on the social system: how technologies affect social change, social stratification processes, dating and family, culture and politics and social interaction. 2. Sociology study how social factors (Gender, culture, politics) affect the shaping of technological devices." We could (and do) also study the reverse of the two statements, the impact of technologies on social sysems and social factors. from another sociologist-- cheers, andee (andrea baker)